2019 Winners & Shortlists

OMO TAG

BrandUNILEVER LEBANON
Product/ServiceOMO
EntrantTBWA\RAAD Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
CategoryPromotional Item Design
Idea Creation TBWA\RAAD Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Production MAGNET CONNECT Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Production 2 RAMA INTERNATIONAL LIMITED Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Background.

OMO claim “dirt is good”, that advocates for kids’ active lives, won the hearts of consumers. But couldn’t translate into business. OMO was behind on a key brand attribute in the Middle East: stain removal.(1) Lagging behind on ‘stain removal’ despite it being at the heart of OMO claim was puzzling. But understandable. Consumers were bombarded by a sea of “annoying” supermarket sampling(2). Same with clichéd before-and-after demos - where worn-out rags go into a soap bucket and come out blindingly white. Hence, consumers grew skeptical and immune to claims of effective-stain-removal. We were no different. Worse, the media pockets of competition bullied us out. We needed to catch the attention of consumers, with another ‘effective-stain-removal’ message. But our hands were tied. Neither a claim, nor a demo, nor a sampling would do. (1) Nielsen “The dirt on cleaning,” 2018 (2) Business Know-how-research “7 Things customers dislike about salespeople,” 2016

Describe the creative idea.

We discreetly surprised consumers with an unexpected personal live demo, on their own garments, in their own machine. We moved away from supermarkets, and took our product to people’s clothes, before they go out and get dirty. We disrupted sampling and created a new medium: the OMO tag. Like the tag you’ll find on all new clothes, but made entirely out of OMO detergent and 100% water-soluble. To reassert our cause of advocating for an active lifestyle, we partnered with Lebanon’s biggest sports’ shop. Placed the tags on the types of clothes that get dirtiest. Consumers had to simply remove the tag and put it inside their washing machines. Enough detergent to wash up to three garments – knowing moms normally wash the very dirty sports garments separately. This enabled moms to personally test the detergent and witness the superiority of OMO stain-removing power.

Describe the strategy.

Young mothers are more empowered than ever. But while they are a strong workforce, they still keep their traditional gender roles(1). Hence, have more responsibilities and less time for experimentation. They stick to their preferred choices(2). No claim can change their mind. Skeptical, they want actions that speak louder than words. 78% want to try a product before purchasing(3). But how do we get them to try a product despite them turning a deaf ear? Sampling? of course. But no. Turned out consumers hate being interrupted by “annoying” salespeople (especially for detergent), while trying to get out of the busy store with their sanity intact(4). And who can blame them? The strategy boiled down to one question: how can we discreetly make it to their washer? (1) Reuters, 2016 (2) Marketing Week, 2018 (3) EMI Event Track survey, 2015 (4) Business Know-how-research “7 Things customers dislike about salespeople,” 2016

Describe the execution.

Partnering with Sports 4ever, we placed 5000 OMO tags on Jerseys of popular players, meant for kids and teenagers. Extending our idea of active life to not just kids, but young people too. Each tag displayed OMO tagline ‘Dirt is good.’ And just like that, we got samples into consumers’ hands, before they knew. the process wasn't as simple as the idea itself. First, the powder was mixed in with a small amount of water, bonding agent and glycerin. Then This suspension was then pressure heated to a controlled temperature, stirred and separated. After that, we poured into molds and pressed by hand. Once it was set in the molds, these were then quick freeze dried. This resulted to remove the water and leave a full tag. The last step was wrapping and holing for a for a thread to be put through, then dry packed and sealed in containers.

List the results.

In two weeks: Brand Engagement: 5000 consumers experienced, first-hand, OMO effective-stain-removal. And it got people talking, OMO’s online mentions grew 71%.(1) Brand Love: Fans grew 50% on Instagram, 20% on Facebook, and 18% on twitter. OMO’s positive online-sentiment grew 45%, and the negative cut to half.(1) “This is really cool” and “I will never forget OMO” were verbatims shared in-store.(2) Business: 93% of consumers exposed to the tag, mentioned a positive intention to buy OMO next.(2) Campaign Popularity: OMO Tag broke Lebanon’s walls and got international talk-ability. Esteemed media like Adage, Ads-of-the-world, Executive, Marketeer, Adforum, commended the work and rose OMO’s effective-stain-removal reputation. Industry: Unilever is taking OMO Tag innovation to 4 other markets in the coming year. More tags are being printed as you read. 3 other outlets asked to have the sampling in their stores, to boost their own awareness. (1) Crimson Hexagon, February 2019 (2) In-store survey

Credits

Name Company Role
Walid Kanaan TBWA\RAAD Chief Creative Officer
Manuel Borde TBWA\RAAD Executive Creative Director
Fouad Abdel Malak TBWA\RAAD Executive Creative Director
Oswaldo Sa TBWA\RAAD Art Director ACD
Pedro Velasquez TBWA\RAAD Art Director
Leonardo Konjedic TBWA\RAAD Copywriter
Tarik Frank TBWA\RAAD Copywriter
Lucas Pimenta TBWA\RAAD Motion Graphics Designer
Natalia Abboud TBWA\RAAd Managing Director
Diana Georges TBWA\RAAD Account Director
Romy Abdelnour TBWA\RAAD Corporate Communications Director
Remie Abdo TBWA\RAAD Head of Planning
Heela Daudzai TBWA\RAAD Strategic Planner
Hazem Atieh / Ezzat Habra TBWA\RAAD Creative Services Managers
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